1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an outboard trolling motor deployment and control system for a boat. In particular, the system comprises a deployment assembly disposed in cooperative engagement with an outboard trolling motor assembly having at least one thrust axis. The deployment assembly is structured such that the outboard trolling motor assembly may be positioned between a stowed position and at least one predetermined deployed position while maintaining the thrust axis substantially parallel to a longitudinal centerline of the boat. The system of the present invention also comprises a control assembly disposed in a communicative relationship with the outboard trolling motor assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
At the turn of the last century, there were more than 12 million boats registered throughout the United States, and many of these boats are presumedly utilized for various types of fishing activities. Most fishing boats include at least one main motor which permits the operator to propel the boat from one location to another, for example, from a dock or boat launch to a favorite fishing hole. Typically, the main motors employed to permit the boat to travel long distances are sized to propel the boat at relatively high speeds, such that the boat creates a wake in its trail, the wake being a large area of disturbed water. In addition to the wake, such motors tend to produce a significant amount of noise, which is readily transmitted through the water. However, once the boat arrives in the vicinity of the fishing hole, it is no longer desirable to use a motor that creates a wake or produces noise, as it may either scare fish from the area or distract them from taking a bait presented by a fisherman.
As such, much smaller motors, commonly known as trolling motors, are often employed to propel the boat at significantly reduced speeds [i.e. trolling speeds], when the boat approaches or is located in an area where the operator wishes to fish. Typically, such trolling motors are structured to propel the boat at minimal speeds such that there is little discernable wake created. In addition, many modern trolling motors are driven by electric motors which operate almost silently so as not to betray the fisherman's presence to his prey.
Given the relatively small size of most trolling motors, they are typically structured only to be positioned into the water while they are being used. While the boat is traveling at normal speeds under power of the main motor or motors, the trolling motors are normally disposed in a stowed position out of the body of water. This is so as to eliminate drag from the trolling motor as the boat moves through the body of water and, perhaps more importantly, to prevent damage to the trolling motor by the force of the water and/or to the hull of the boat by the trolling motor being forced into contact with the hull.
A variety of devices have been developed to deploy one or more trolling motors from a boat, once it has arrived at a location where the trolling motor is to be used. Many of these devices are structured to temporarily dispose the trolling motor in an operable position into the body of water overtop of a portion of the hull, where at least a portion of the trolling motor and/or the trolling motor mounting assembly extends upward above the portion of the hull. Such mounting devices, however, present a potential point for entangling fishing line, either while casting out line, reeling in line, or by a fish which has taken the bait and is running with the line. Also, such devices are typically structured to dispose the trolling motor off either side of the boat near the bow, which results in an offset, forward steerage point, which makes maneuvering the boat more difficult, and maneuvering the boat at low trolling speeds is difficult at best, even under ideal boating conditions. These devices also typically require the operator to manually align the angle and set the depth and distance from the hull of the boat at which the trolling motor is deployed, which are all critical factors with regard to the operating efficiency of the trolling motor. As such, these devices are often deployed at an angle, depth, and/or distance which does not permit maximum operating efficiency. In addition, these devices typically require the operator to physically adjust the speed and direction of the trolling motor via a shaft or handle located on the trolling motor assembly itself, thus restricting the operator's ability to move freely about the boat to fish.
Attempts to address some of the aforementioned shortcomings have resulted in trolling motor mounting devices wherein essentially no portion of the trolling motor or mounting assembly extend upward above any side of the boat. For example, one such device provides for mounting the trolling motor onto a tab or tongue which is mounted directly behind the boat and is rotated into and out of the body of water. At least one device provides a trolling motor disposed underneath the hull of the boat while in an operable portion and which is retractable into a recess in the underside of the hull of boat while the regular boat motor is utilized. Although each of these devices minimize the risk of entangling the fishing line with the trolling motor and/or mounting assembly, they both position the trolling motor, and more specifically, a propellor of the trolling motor in the path of flow of water that has been disturbed by the passage of the hull of the boat overtop, commonly known as “dirty water,” rather than in the undisturbed, “clean water” which passes by on either side of the boat. Dirty water is normally somewhat turbulent and often contains air bubbles, both of which may cause cavitation of the motor resulting in reduced operating efficiency and, more importantly, creating noise that may scare or disturb potential prey. In addition, each of these devices only provide a single position in which the thrust of the trolling motor is substantially parallel with the longitudinal centerline of the boat, which is the most efficient operating position in which to deploy the trolling motor.
At least one other device employs a controller to permit the operator to vary the speed and direction of the trolling motor assembly, remote from the actual trolling motors themselves, via a foot control switch, presumedly to free the operator's hands so that the operator may fish while maneuvering the boat via the trolling motor.
Other devices have been developed which incorporate complex mechanisms to deploy and/or retrieve one or more trolling motors, thus making such devices expensive to manufacture and maintain. Also, the complex nature of these devices may make it more time consuming for the operator to deploy the trolling motor when desired, which may be critical when unexpectedly arriving upon a school of fish which the operator wishes to pursue at trolling speed. Further, it is reasonable to assume that the complexity of such devices will render them less reliable than simpler deployment mechanisms, and thus, more expensive to properly maintain.
As such, it would be beneficial to provide a trolling motor deployment assembly which would allow an operator to quickly and easily deploy at least one trolling motor into at least one predetermined deployed position, wherein the predetermined deployed position is located in undisturbed, “clean water.” It would be a further benefit for such a deployment assembly to be structured to dispose a pair of outboard trolling motors into at least one predetermined deployed position. As such, each of the pair of trolling motors is disposed at an equal lateral distance from opposite sides of the boat and at an equal depth below a normal surface of the body of water. In addition, it would be helpful for any such trolling motor deployment assembly to deploy the trolling motors such that thrust generated by each of the trolling motors is maintained substantially parallel to a longitudinal centerline of the boat, to assure optimum operating efficiency of the trolling motors. Furthermore, any such trolling motor assembly would preferably be structured such that no portion of the mounting assembly or trolling motor is disposed above any side wall of the boat while the trolling motor is disposed in an operative position. Also, it would be beneficial for such a trolling motor assembly to include a control assembly structured to permit an operator to control the speed and direction of the boat from a location remote of the trolling motor, such that the operator is free to move about the boat to fish.